Web censorship and China, how do you tell if your web site has been blocked? The Great Firewall of China project at http://greatfirewallofchina.org is another project on the web to see if your web site is being blocked by China. I tested all of my web sites, and they seem to be blocked, which is interesting, normally a security web site would not be blocked anywhere, but apparently my own security web site is blocked. The web site has very interesting data, and at the time of writing was under a hacking attack that the web site says is skewing results, so they may or may not be completely accurate (which I concur with, as I get IP addresses visiting my security web site that come from china). Even still the web site makes for interesting commentary on what the Chinese government thinks should be banned. Beyond Yahoo, Live Journal, MSN Spaces, Google and others, it's the mundane web sites, the entertainment web sites like TV Links, Bollywood web sites (those I tested), movie web sites, blogspot, bluewin.ch, sina and a host of others, inside and outside the country. What is the most interesting is that it is not a consistent blockage; clicking refresh on the page may let you through eventually. And this does not cover anything that is routed through a proxy system like TOR or others. The blockage statistics are fascinating in using this tool to determine how the country firewall works, and under what simulated loads it might work under. Under the sites FAQ they also state that the Chinese are very good at working their way around the system.

The Chinese are very resourceful in this. A site about popular movie stars may become a vehicle for discussing delicate political issues. Among Chinese 'nerds' hacking systems are circulating that completely bypass censorship, but you must be knowledgeable enough to download these from non-blocked sites. And then there are weblogs that appear to discuss dogs but are in fact describing the political situation in China. Source, Greatfirewallofchina.org

Knowing that there are holes in the system is generally a good thing, and knowing that my sites are available in china is also a good thing. The site is very interesting, and each person who tests a web site will end up in a major database of sites that were tested, and then blocked or not blocked to determine a filter list that will then be shared. That filter list, and using the web site to test things is the best chunk of data that anyone could have. And a deep insight into what the Chinese government finds offensive or not culturally relevant.